I'm a mom... but I can still be spontaneous!

After enduring a few years of, in many ways (except financial, phew!) a life of single motherhood, as Bill traveled back and forth from his Puerto Rican baby (the hotel he was building) - we decided to pick up our family and move there for the duration of the project. The decision came on Saturday - and we were to leave a week later. This blog tracked our experiences as we left our home in CT, withdrew our kids from school, left our puppy in the care of a trusted dog-lover, left the snow and the rat race and the routine... for a beautiful, rather remote island. I hoped to allow my friends & family to track our progress (or lack thereof?) as we lugged our stuff to one of the few remaining places that does not have a Starbucks, the kids and I embarked on our first ever homeschooling experience (I'd always thought homeschoolers were aliens), and I happily moved my triathlon training from the pool, trainer & dreadmill to what basically amounts to paradise. Most of all, I hoped my blogging will push others to step out of their comfort zone and try something they always swore "NEVER!" to do. (Of course, hopefully it's not something destructive).

So now, we are back in CT after our 3 surreal months in Vieques. In no time whatsoever my day became jam-packed with activities and tasks, but somehow it feels "right" in the way that the nothingness of Vieques felt "right." I suppose that's how you know you're following your bliss - and where you do it becomes irrelevant.

Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

today was a GREAT day






OK, I guess it's hard to have a bad day in paradise, but today was especially great since thanks to our friend Ed Gittines, my computer arrived today, safe & sound (there was a bit of confusion, since Fed Ex thinks PR is an international destination) - and because of new rules & routines, the kids were capable of 2 hours of school, errands & a beach outing, without a single timeout or major outburst (on my part). The day started with my daily run, and since we are dogsitting Juana and she apparently likes to announce her awakening at 6:45am, I got an earlier start and had a very respectable 70 degree or so climate for the workout. When I got home, there was no TV, the kids had had breakfast, and after I'd done some crunches, push ups, popped into the pool and then the shower, it was school time. William did all reading & writing today, Jackie did some word scrambles, reading comprehension, then I gave her my laptop and she did some math, then social studies (the Advantage software app I bought right before we left). Willo and I then played memory (Spongebob Squarepants) and without my letting him, he beat me fair and square.

We had some lunch, then headed out to buy some Zinko (Willo picked green) and I smeared it all over their faces when we got to the beach. It had been raining on our side of the island, but at Blue Beach (Esperanza side) it was bright sun and 86 degrees (5 degrees warmer than the northern side). We played "jumping the waves" "water jogging" "body boarding" and then I swam a few laps back & forth in front of where they were playing. The whole time there were maybe a dozen people on the beach, a long beach, so it was pretty desolate. I was wishing Bill was with us instead of busting his a$$, but tomorrow's Friday and we plan to have an earlier-than-usual dinner in Esperanza, watching the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. Bill has been working 12 hour days or so, but at least he's able to pop in for a few minutes here and there, until his phone rings and off he goes again. The kids are definitely loving the proximity and each of them walked down the hill today to visit him.

I think the biggest challenge right now is fighting the vacation mentality. While not totally sold on the Montessori concept of letting kids do whatever they want when they want in terms of learning, I'm not into cramming stuff down their throats and obviously that would be counter-productive at this very time. I'm regarding this whole homeschooling thing as an exercise in "smilepacing learning" - I do believe that the most important thing in a child's education is to foster a desire to learn, to encourage their innate curiosity. So while I ideally have a somewhat structured 2 hours of "school" each day, it's all fun. As soon as the other packages I shipped here arrive, we will spend plenty of time doing creative projects, engaged in dramatic play, reading, star-gazing (yes, I shipped the telescope)... Because I don't allow video games, we don't have a wii, and I rarely allow them on my computer - the fact that I brought my laptop for them so they could use educational software, is such a treat to them that they don't grumble about the academic part of it. Now, if only I could figure out how to get them to appreciate that being all sandy and salty is one of the best feelings in the world...

(by the way, their blog is: jacquelinesislandadventure.blogspot.com)

:)
Susanne
(p.s. I genuinely feel bad for those of you battling the cold!!!)
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